21/03/2018 London News

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Coming up tonight on BBC London:

news teams where you are.

A father stabbed to death

by a man with known

mental health problems.

Just days after the birth

of his daughter.

His widow struggles for answers.

As if it's not important enough. As

if we don't count. We need to have

the answers. And we need to have the

answers so it won't happen again.

Why the widow is relying on

crowdfunding to pay her legal fees.

The care homes forced to exclude

residents with the highest needs,

which led to a son who had to give

up his job to look

after his sick mother.

They would be saying, you have to

find a care home. And I couldn't.

And it was really depressing and

demoralising. And I felt really

unsure about where she was going to

be going.

Road testing driverless

pods. Londoners give their verdict

on trial in Greenwich. And...

A music masterclass

for Teenage Cancer patients -

from none other than Nial Rogers.

Good evening.

I'm Asad Ahmad.

It was a crime that

shocked Londoners.

A father - who'd gone to post cards

near his home in Islington

to announce the birth

of his new daughter -

being stabbed to death just

metres from his doorstep.

Dr Jeroen Ensink was attacked

by a man from Woolwich -

with known mental health problems -

who, days earlier, had charges

against him relating

to knife offences dropped.

Now, ahead of the inquest

into his death, we learn

that the victim's wife has had

to turn to Crowdfunding

to get the money to pay

for legal representation.

Here's Caroline Davies.

There were three police officers

standing in front of our door.

And I just opened the door,

and you just know, your

entire world collapses.

They hadn't even said a word.

They hadn't even said,

is this your husband?

You just know.

This was the last photo taken

of Nadja's husband, Jeroen Ensink.

His little daughter, Fleur,

had been born just 11 days before.

He left the house to post cards

announcing her birth

when he was attacked and killed.

She knows that other

kids have a dad.

I mean, there are pictures

all over the house.

And then once in awhile,

she just walks down the street

and she goes, Mummy,

Daddy's in my heart.

And those moments are

when your heart breaks.

Jeroen was killed by

a man he had never met.

Femi Nandap was suffering

from a cannabis-induced psychotic

rage when he stabbed the academic.

Today, he is serving

an indefinite sentence at

Broadmoor Hospital for manslaughter.

Nandap had a history of severe

mental health problems.

In May 2015, he was arrested

and charged for wielding a knife

in public and attacking

a police officer.

He was released on bail.

In December, the charges

against him were dropped

because of insufficient evidence.

Six days later, he killed Jeroen.

Nadja hopes the inquest

into his death will give her some

answers about what happened.

But while the CPS and the police

will have legal representation

representation at that inquest -

paid for by the public purse -

she's been denied legal aid.

And without legal representation,

I won't be able to get

the answers we need.

As if it's not important enough,

as if we don't count.

We need to have the answers.

And we need have the answers

so it won't happen again.

The Met told us that

while there had been no misconduct,

there had been areas of learning.

The CPS said that the case

against the previous knife offence

should never have been discontinued.

The Ministry of Justice have said

that they're committed to reviewing

the situation on legal aid

for bereaved families,

but that review is delayed.

In the meantime, Nadja

is crowdfunding for her lawyer.

All this is going on, I still

believe in the goodness of people.

Because it's out there.

But I don't believe in the system.

Caroline, Nadja isn't the only

person to have difficulty getting

legal aid for an inquest?

No, this can happen to a number of

bereaved families and the process of

getting legal aid for inquests can

be complex and intrusive. We are

talking that inquest is weather has

been state involvement in some way.

The money to get legal aid is means

tested so you fill in forms about

your income, your property. Even

down to your jewellery. It is not

just you, it is the immediate family

of the deceased, that can be

difficult people are a strange dog

living abroad and the forms can be

pages and pages and you might not

get the funding even then as we

found with Nadja. Which you need a

lawyer there? Everybody else will

have one, the CPS, the Met police,

they will be represented legally,

said pressure groups say this is

really important for the families to

get the answer is that they need. As

I mentioned, the Ministry of Justice

are reviewing this, they said this

evening they are sympathetic of

course to the families of the

deceased and they have said they are

planning to publish their findings

later in the year.

We will see what happens, for now,

thank you very much.

So, that's our top story

this Wednesday evening,

but still to come tonight before 7:

I will report live from a farm in

Hertfordshire, finding out about the

numbers of sheep lost every year

because of out of control dogs.

Around 50 alleged victims

of abuses-of-power

by undercover police units have

walked out of a public inquiry,

saying they no longer have

confidence in its Chairman.

Already, the inquiry is three

years behind schedule,

amid a major dispute

about whether officers at the centre

of the investigation can be named.

Already, the inquiry is three

years behind schedule,

Dominic Casciani has been

following the inquiry.

Dominic, remind us of

what the inquiry is about?

It is deeply controversial and very

complicated. It is to get to the

heart of allegations of wrongdoing

mostly against a secretive but now

disbanded Metropolitan Police unit,

the Special Demonstration Squad.

Over 40 years, it has infiltrated

political campaign groups and has

been accused of being involved in

criminality, of tricking women into

sexual relationships, and it has

been accused of also stealing the

names of dead children so officers

could create fake identities. This

enquiry has been delayed by a

combination of legal questions and

the death of its original chairman,

and the new head has been trying to

get it back and rack recently to

attempts to get through the

anonymity orders which has led to

today's extraordinary scenes.

Why was today so significant?

In essence, what has happened, at

today's hearing, protesters and the

campaigners said they had lost

confidence in the chairman. Let's

hear from Dwayne Brooks, one of the

campaigners involved, a friend of

Stephen Lawrence.

We need to know who these officers

are, and we need to know

that the actions that those officers

took, five, ten, 20,

in some cases 30 years ago,

are not happening today.

Right now, us core participants,

we have no confidence.

Now, what has happened since then,

the campaigners have asked for the

chair either to resign or to appoint

a panel to assess which officers

should get anonymity and which names

should be released in the public

domain. If the campaigners do lend

their support back enquiry, it is

going to be more than a year before

any evidence is heard.

Thank you

very much for that at the High

Court.

Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt

has admitted the social

care system is under unprecedented

pressure, as BBC London

learns that an increasing

number of care homes

appear to be cherry-picking

the patients they take in.

A lack of funding,

and increasing demand for places,

means those who need the most

care are sometimes being

overlooked and rejected.

A graphic designer from East London

believes his mother wasn't able

to get a place in a home

because of the amount

of care she needed.

It meant he had to

put his life on hold.

Helen Mulroy reports.

Back to work for Alex Turner.

It's been a long time coming

for the graphic design

after he was forced to take a career

break at just 26, when his mum,

Sue, was diagnosed with

early-onset dementia.

I'd get five or six phone calls

a day, members of the public

would find her, or the police

would pick her up, or she'd be

in different hospitals

around our area and I'd have to go

and collect her a lot of the time.

When she was living at home, there'd

be different carers every day.

She wouldn't want to let them in.

They hadn't been trained

as to how to do that.

So, full-time jobs were impossible.

Alex became his mum's main carer,

even living with her for a period

of time, but her condition worsened

and she went into hospital.

By then, it was clear that the only

option was a care home.

For the next year, Alex

looked at over 20 homes,

and applied for a place at more

than ten of them.

But at each one, after assessing

Sue, who was still relatively young,

physically fit, and mobile,

none could offer her place.

It was really depressing

and demoralising and I felt really

unsure about where she was going

to be going.

It wasn't a nice time.

Sadly, Alex and Sue's

story is far from unique.

Our helpline increasingly gets

calls of this nature.

We find that care homes

are picking and choosing people

that they accept into their homes,

largely because they don't

have the funding to be able

to provide the specialist support

needed to help people with dementia.

The National Living Wage

is going up soon.

Property, and the upkeep of that

property, particularly in London,

that can be extremely expensive.

In contacting the Government,

we asked the Department of Health

and Social Care what they're doing

about the lack of appropriate

care home places.

They told us that they've invested

an extra £2 billion in social care

and that over the summer,

they're publishing planned reforms

to make the social care system more

sustainable for the future.

But for Sue and Alex,

any such reform is too late.

I've missed a chunk of my career.

I just couldn't get a job.

My mum wouldn't have

been happy about that.

It would have been incredibly

upsetting for my mum to know

what I've gone through.

Helen Mulroy, BBC London News.

There's been much talk

about driverless cars on our roads,

with one of the largest 'city'

trials taking place in Greenwich.

Specialists have monitored how

comfortable Londoners

are with the technology

and if they feel safe.

This all comes just days

after a woman was killed

by a self-driving car in America,

but are Londoners still OK in them?

Our transport correspondent,

Tom Edwards, has been finding out.

For 18 months, these driverless

shuttles have been running around

the Greenwich Peninsula.

Testing how they react to people,

other vehicles and even dogs.

In that case, the on-board

safety pilot intervened.

And here, they're also

trying to find out our

reactions to the pods.

Today, there were more passengers.

So far, thousands

have tried them out.

The vehicle itself feels much larger

than I thought it was going to do.

It felt very safe.

The vehicle itself was very

cautious, it was very aware

of its surroundings.

I didn't feel at any point

that we came up to an obstacle

and it wasn't going to stop.

All in all, it was a

really good experience.

We have already got some form of it

so I reckon in the next under five

years, I think there is a

Chancellor.

Seen them all around

town. First time in it, I felt quite

safe, cautious driver, that was

good. I have been following the

technology for a while so exciting

to finally get in one.

Although our

pods today was misbehaving

initially. According to those behind

the scheme, the technology has

performed well, even in the recent

poor weather and Greenwich has been

a test-bed for new driverless

technology. This was a shopping

company test in Woolwich. Of those

people who use these pods in

Greenwich, 47% had a positive

experience. 43% had concerns. Maybe

around cyber security and road

safety. And driverless technology

has been in the headlines after a

pedestrian died after being hit by a

self-driving car in the US. Some

have called that a wake-up call for

the industry. Others say the

technology should not yet be the

roads. Here, they believe the system

is safe and there have been no

incidents.

These pods safe? Yes,

safety is always going to be a

priority, especially in the

development of the vehicles and the

trials we are developing at the

moment. And we have got a lot of

work to do to develop trust and

people need to build trust in these

vehicles and the technology.

London

still wants to be at the forefront

of this new technology. There is

still some way to go to convince

everyone that this is the future of

transport. Yes, it appears the jury

is still out!

Farmers across the Home Counties

are urging dog owners to be more

responsible following an increase

in the number of

attacks on livestock.

It's claimed that the increase

could - in part - be

down to a ban on dogs in some parks.

From Hertfordshire,

Sarah Harris reports.

Yes, it is a vulnerable time for

these sheep because it is lambing

time. Look at the latest additions,

two twin lambs, they were asleep and

feeding, born this time yesterday.

There were many more, many more will

be born tonight. So as you can see,

farmers in the Home Counties and the

sheep have enough on their plate

without worrying about out control

dogs and it is a problem for farmers

living fairly close to London.

Three times in as many years,

Tim's sheep, kept in the countryside

close to Watford, have been

attacked by dogs.

The scale of such incidents is huge.

Police were called to a nearby farm

this week where two dogs took out

almost the entire flock.

There was a total of 13 sheep,

being a mixture of fully grown ewes

and newly born lambs that had been

slaughtered and there are a further

six lambs that the farmer was able

to take back to the farm that had

been injured, some of

them quite severely.

Legal proceedings are ongoing

against the owner and the pictures

are too harrowing to broadcast

but the research shows

there are thousands of attacks

in the countryside around

London every year.

Recent changes to the law made it

easier for councils and other

landlords to ban dogs altogether

from recreation grounds

and other public spaces.

According to the Kennel Club,

that is what is making people

with dogs go out to the countryside

at weekends, where things

can get out of control.

Tim doesn't just keep sheep,

he also advises the Government

and the police on how to deal

with the problem of

livestock worrying.

He says it often boils down

to the owner's naivete.

People are walking a dog

and it's not under control,

on a lead, and they see sheep,

the dogs see sheep,

the run off and attack

and the owner can't recall it.

Because the dog is going back

into primitive hunting mode.

And this is all dogs.

This isn't particular types of dogs.

This is large, small, all breeds.

And it's simply, in this case,

the owners just do not understand

that their dog will go back

to its hunting instincts.

Very seldom is it

the fault of the dog.

With Easter coming up,

the police are keen to get

the message across for owners

to keep their dogs on a lead

in the countryside.

If things do get out of hand,

they may face criminal charges.

Sarah Harris, BBC London News.

If you've just tuned in, welcome.

This is what's still

to come on the programme.

This is Nile Rodgers, and just want

to say that I will be coming up

later on to talk about music in

London. Which is awesome! One,

two... Fake out!

A memorial has been

laid in honour of two

soldiers from Islington,

who were awarded the Victoria Cross

in the First World War.

Lance Corporal John Sayer

single-handedly defended an outpost

in Northern France -

and Lieutenant Colonel Frank Roberts

led a counter attack

against the enemy.

Charlotte Franks

was at the ceremony.

It was where some of the bloodiest

battles were fought

during the First World War.

Millions died on the Western front,

amid the lines of mud trenches

and fortifications dug to prevent

the enemy from advancing.

Lieutenant Colonel Frank Roberts

lived in Highbury.

But, in 1914, 26 years old, he left

to fight on the front in France.

On one occasion, the enemy

attacked a nearby village,

but Lieutenant Roberts led

a counterattack, driving them

away temporarily so that

troops could withdraw.

The fight was basically

around the church.

But you've only got to look

at the commendation,

the number of people killed.

The number of people he took

prisoner.

For his courage, he received

a Victoria Cross.

John Sayer, also from Islington,

single-handedly seized and defended

a strategic post close

to the Hindenberg line

in northern France in 1918.

For this deed, he too

was awarded the VC.

LAST POST

Today, both

soldiers were remembered

by their families as memorials

were unveiled in Islington to mark

the sacrifice they made fighting

on the Western front.

The countryside was churned up

by heavy shelling from both sides.

It was covered in barbed wire.

The weather made the ground

impossible, in many places.

But in spite of of those conditions,

John Sayer would never

forget his family, writing

to his children on each

of their birthdays.

Dear Eric, I am writing this hoping

you will get it on your birthday,

to wish you many happy returns...

The letter is very quiet

and personal, and it makes no

mention, really, of war.

And what he must have been

going through at that time.

It is hoped that by laying these

stones, the memory of both soldiers'

achievements will be kept alive,

as well as educating future

generations about the Great War.

Charlotte Franks, BBC London News.

Two very brave soldiers.

More than 10% of children

are believed to spend over

six hours a day online.

So a project in south

London is using netball

to educate young people on staying

safe when they use social media,

as well as encouraging

them to be more active.

And today Netball 4 Change

received official backing

from Sport Relief and the Mayor.

Chris Slegg can tell us more.

Netball at the Harris Academy

School in Peckham today.

But netball with a difference.

Each training drill here

is designed to teach youngsters

about using social media safely.

It seems the message

is getting through.

In a netball match, if you try

to tackle, you've got to be

careful of who you pass to.

It's the same thing,

you have to be careful

of what you post as well.

11-year-old Mariah estimates

she spends 30 hours a week online.

Is it good to just put

the phone down and

play a bit of sport?

Yeah, it really is.

The screen is really

bad for your eyes.

You being sporty and getting

out here, meeting new

friends, it is a lot better.

Today, the Mayor

announced a total of £8.8

million of funding will be made

available to projects like this one

over the next three years.

We have learned that

actually you can't

always teach young people

things in the classroom.

Sometimes you have to take them

outside the classroom.

Sport is a phenomenal way to learn

all sorts of life skills.

Obesity levels have

been going up for a

while, activity levels

have been coming down.

Have you been too

slow to act on this?

Well, I'm really concerned

about a number of things

in relation to the health

and well-being of Londoners.

Too many people live

in their own communities

and don't mix and mingle.

Sport is a fantastic way

of reducing isolation,

as a way of making mates, as a way

of people from different backgrounds

getting to know each other.

£3.3 million comes

from a partnership

with Sport Relief, Comic Relief's

biannual fundraising campaign.

The confidence these young people

are getting from playing netball,

and the lessons around social media

they are learning, have

been really important.

We are looking forward to funding

more projects like this

across London over

the next three years.

Netball 4 Change, affecting

a positive change in Peckham.

The Multi-Grammy Award winning

artist and producer Nile Rodgers

is putting on a music masterclass

for a group of young Londoners.

They've all survived cancer -

like Rodgers himself - and tonight

in just over an hour's time,

they'll be performing

at the Teenage Cancer Trust concert

at the Royal Albert Hall.

Here's Emma North.

Some of these people have never

picked up an instrument before in

their lives. But with just an hour's

tuition they were reworking one of

that one Chic's greatest hits. And

Nile Rodgers was impressed.

Have you

really not played guitar before? Who

was playing guitar? Really!? OK, I

give up. I have been doing this for

40 years. Give me a break.

All of

these young people have, or have

heart, cancer. Today, they were just

people coming together to enjoy

themselves and learn.

My mum is

obsessed with Nile Rodgers, of

course. She is so proud. Keep going,

if people want to talk about it,

definitely, but I am all for the

future.

Who did the lyrics?

Nile

Rodgers has had cancer as well,

twice. He is somebody that

understands just how powerful music

can be.

It was actually a huge

distraction from the fear that comes

along with cancer. Inevitably, we

are all going to go through that

terrifying period. But a group

called Daft Punk came into my life.

I did the record, Get Lucky. I sort

of made this promise to myself that

I was going to make more songs than

I have ever written in my life. I

was going to do more lives shows, do

more collaborations. I kept going

and going.

That creativity is still

going at full throttle. As well as

bringing his and Chic's joyful disco

funk to the Albert Hall, he is in

London and working. What are you

doing at Abbey Road?

I am waking

every single day that I have been

here. I have been writing with

phenomenal writers and artists.

Because of the wonderful people that

I am surrounded with. I mean, I just

finished a session an hour ago. It

has been like that every day,

nonstop.

Thank you very much.

Good luck to everybody.

Now let's check on the Weather

with Tomasz Schafernaker.

It has been pretty good today?

Beautiful, blue skies. This is from

one of the weather watchers. This is

from Hornchurch.

The next few days, a little

changeable. At the moment, we have

clear skies earlier on today, but

clouds are streaming in. Over the

next few days there will probably be

a bit of rain around, but not an

awful lot. Not much happening on the

weather front tonight. Cloud and a

fuse spots of rain to the east of

London. One thing you will notice

tomorrow morning is just how mild

that is going to be. 5 degrees. That

is not particularly warm, but we

have had frosts for so long and this

is the first day, the first morning,

it will be frost free. Very nice out

there. Cloudy for a time in the

morning. The cloud will not be very

thick during the course of the day,

Laois and sun shine through.

Tomorrow, we can summarise this as

very pleasant spring, a bright day,

temperatures might get up to 30

Celsius in one two spots. Here is

some rain first thing on Friday

morning. A light shade of blue. In

the afternoon, the sun should come

out. It will feel a little bit

fresher on Friday. Temperatures will

not be much different. More of a

breeze out there. A bright and

breezy enter the working week. As we

head to the rest of Friday and into

Saturday, there will be weather

systems circling the UK, but never

really quite going across us, at

least in the south. The weekend is

actually not looking too bad for

most of us. Looking at the weather

outlook as we head into the weekend

into next week, I will mention one

thing, in the run-up to Easter there

is an indication that things could

turn really cold once again. Still,

just a possibility. Something worth

highlighting.

Thanks for a great

weather forecast and great tie.

Before we go this Wednesday

evening - a quick reminder

of the main news headlines.

More than a million NHS

staff, including nurses,

porters and paramedics,

have been offered a pay rise,

worth at least 6.5%

over the three years.

Some of the lowest paid workers,

will get an increase of nearly 30%.

An academic who created an app

which harvested data from 50 million

users claims he's been made

"a scapegoat" for both

Facebook and the consultancy

Cambridge Analytica.

A senior Metropolitan Police Officer

says the large rise

in knife crime isn't causing

the outrage it should.

He fears it's because many victims

are from the black community.

Eight people have been

fatally stabbed or shot

in the London in the last week.

That's BBC London news for now.

I'll be back at 10.30 on BBC One

with our next news -

but there's plenty more

on our Facebook page

and Twitter feed.

You can use them to get

in touch with us too.

Have a good evening, Bye for now.